Current Affairs - September 20, 2019 Current Affairs

The peso is the currency of Chile. The current peso has circulated since 1975, with a previous version circulating between 1817 and 1960.

Mumbai's Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) handed over India's second Scorpene submarine Khanderi to the Indian Navy. The attack submarine was is to be commissioned into the Indian Navy by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on 28 September 2019. After commissioning, it will be the 17th submarine of the Indian Navy. Khanderi is a Kalvari-class diesel-electric attack submarine. It has been named after a wide-snouted Sawfish.

Consumer lending platform, ZestMoney has partnered with PayU, a fintech firm that provides payment technology to online merchants to offer cardless EMI (equated monthly installment) payment option to consumers. With this partnership, more than 2,500 merchants that are equipped with PayU, Billdesk, Cashfree, and Razorpay can start accepting ZestMoney (which has over 3,500 unique data points (2,500 data points for new to credit) to ease risk decisioning) as a payment solution quickly.

The first Governor-General of British India was Lord William Bentinck, and the first Governor-General of the Dominion of India was Louis, Lord Mountbatten.

Global technology services firm Cognizant Technology Solutions has appointed Ramkumar Ramamoorthy as chairman and managing director of Cognizant India and head of India Operations, Cognizant CEO Brian Humphries announced in a note sent to employees this morning.

Piyush Goyal launched a Common digital platform for electronic Certificates of Origin (CoO) issuance. This platform will act as a single access point for exporters, Free Trade Agreements(FTA)/ Preferential Trade Agreements (PTA) and others.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has received the first consignment of the upgraded version of the Guided Bomb Spice-2000 with Mark 84 warheads and bombs from Israel at the Gwalior airbase, Madhya Pradesh. The bombs are being given to India under a contract worth about Rs 300 crore signed between India and Israel in June 2019.

World Bamboo Day was observed on 18 September every year. It was observed by the World Bamboo Organisation (WBO). The Day aims to raise awareness to conserve and promote the bamboo industry.

Alia Bhatt has won Best Actress Award in IIFA Awards 2019 for film Raazi. This film was based on a story of an Indian female spy. Vicky Kaushal was male supporting actor in this movie. It was directed by Meghna Gulzar.

Google announced the setting up of Google Research India, a new AI research team in Bengaluru, which will focus on advancing computer science and applying AI research to solve big problems in healthcare, agriculture and education.

The Digital Communication Commission, the highest decision making body in the Department of Telecom has approved multiple projects worth over Rs 8,500 crore. The projects aims to set up mobile towers and laying of optical fibre, with an aim to provide improved connectivity. The commission also approved a special scheme to cover upto 12,000 uncovered villages in aspirational districts. The approved infra projects include laying of BharatNet fibre in Tamil Nadu and Telangana, at an estimated cost of Rs 1,815 crore and Rs 2,065 crore. The projects also includes setting up of 1,917 mobile towers for uncovered villages in the North East.

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) has achieved a significant milestone by crossing 1 crore beneficiaries. So far, Centre has disbursed a total amount of Rs.4,000 crores to the beneficiaries under the scheme. The scheme was effectively implemented from 1st January 2017. Under the Scheme, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) will receive a cash benefit of Rs.5,000 in three installments. It is expected to fulfill various conditionality namely early registration of pregnancy, ante-natal check-up, and registration of the birth of the child and completion of the first cycle of vaccination for the first living child of the family. Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) also provides a cash incentive for the eligible beneficiaries.

Napolean Bonaparte was known as the 'Man of destiny'.

Rajnath Singh has become the first Defence Minister to fly indigenously-built fighter aircraft Tejas. The Defence Minister flew a 30-minute sortie in the twin-seater version of Tejas.

The country's first central police university will be set up by the Union home ministry off the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida. The Centre had given in-principle approval for the university and a 100-acre plot has been identified in Sector Techzone. The government wants to set up an institution to tackle modern-day policing challenges. The national university for policing will help in improving police personnel training, skills, research and also policymaking with regard to policing in India.

Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University of Uttar Pradesh has inducted Triple Talaq law in its revised LLB, LLM syllabus. It is the first university in the country who inducted Triple Talaq in the syllabus.

The Kalinga War (ended c. 262 BCE) was fought in what is now India between the Maurya Empire under Ashoka and King of Raja Anantha of the state of Kalinga, an independent feudal kingdom located on the east coast, in the present-day state of Odisha and north of Andhra Pradesh .

Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot launched a Management Information System (MIS) on September 18, 2019 in New Delhi. The MIS portal aims to bring all nodal ministries, states and the Union Territories on a common platform to the monitor the progress made against each target of the Accessible India Campaign.

Kapil Dev, also known as the Haryana Hurricane, was born 6th January, 1959 in Chandigarh. Kapil Dev played his first competitive game of cricket at the age of 13.

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg(16 years) and the 'Fridays for Future youth movement' won the Amnesty International's 'Ambassadors of Conscience' award for the year 2019. The award ceremony which was held at the George Washington University, Washington D.C, America, is the highest human rights award constituted by the Amnesty International.

Tata Communications has partnered with Cisco to offer enterprises a secure, fully-managed, multi-channel, intelligent and cloud-based Cisco Webex Contact Center solution. This joint offering is an end-to-end managed solution and gives contact centre users a seamless user experience across up to 150 countries on the back of Tata Communications' global network. The solution will allow for simplified licensing; pre-deployed hardware and software with integrations to workforce optimisation.

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) has partnered with Ola, a mobility platform, to extend the welfare to its drivers. The partnership will provide comprehensive health insurance for secondary and tertiary care to tens of thousands of drivers working with the cab aggregator and their families. The first phase will see Ola and AB-PMJAY conducting a pilot project in NCR, which will subsequently be rolled out at scale to other cities. Eligible drivers as well as Ola employees will be able to avail the benefits of the programme and obtain an Ayushman Bharat card at a minimal cost of Rs 30.

Ministry of Defence has announced to appoint Vice chief of air staff (VCAS) Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria as the next Chief of the Air Staff (CAS). The announcement comes ahead of the retirement of the current Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa will on 30 September 2019. It is expected that RKS Bhadauria will be taking charge on 30 September. RKS Bhadauria: Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria is the senior most officer in the Indian Air Force (IAF) after Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa.

The first-ever World Patient Safety Day (WPSD) is observed on 17th of September to raise global awareness about patient safety and encourage global solidarity and action. The theme of the very first WPSD is "Patient Safety: a global health priority" and the slogan is "Speak up for Patient Safety!".

India's first Central Police University will be established in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh near the Yamuna Expressway with the aim to improve the law and order of the country.

To reduce human-animal conflict, the Uttarakhand government has decided to carry out bio-fencing by growing various species of plants in those areas viz. lemongrass, agave, rambans, and chilly. The move is to prevent wild animals from entering residential areas and to protect agricultural crops and livestock in areas adjoining to forests. This biotic method is environment-friendly and harvesting of such plants can also be economical for farmers. Leopards, bears, elephants and wild boars are a major threat to human life and livestock.

Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' has launched Waste Management Accelerator for Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs (WAWE) summit. It will be jointly organized by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Institute of Waste Management (IIWM) at Jaipur. This initiative stating that it will empower women and encourage entrepreneurship among youngsters. WAWE Summit 2019 is a great initiative for women who have skills in their hands and it will further empower and motivate them.

Twenty-two scientists across the country were awarded the National Geoscience Awards for the year 2018. Dr Sohini Ganguly, of Goa University, was conferred with the Young Scientist Award-2018 for her significant work in the fields of petrology, volcanology and geochemistry. The National Geoscience Awards were given in ten disciplines covering Mineral exploration, Groundwater exploration, Mining technology, Mineral beneficiation, Sustainable mineral development, Basic and applied geosciences, Geo-environmental studies and Natural hazards investigation.